We could do with wider legislation not only closing this loophole, but putting our geological heritage on an equal footing with archaeology to stipulate professional recording of ground investigations and temporary exposures encountered during construction. This would benefit future builders and planners, who should be drawing upon the expertise of British Geological Survey staff. At the moment only boreholes, mining plans and seismic data have to be reported.

Unfortunately, even though coverage in many areas needs to be updated, continued geological mapping since 1835 is being curtailed: at least a fifth of our bedrock geology needs significant revision, plus many areas with an often highly varied covering of superficial deposits, which can cause so many problems for builders.